Taken as a whole, these Gardens are neither pretty nor rich in animals, and are, in consequence, perhaps scarcely worth a visit.
CHAPTER VII
THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, ROTTERDAM DIRECTOR, DR. BÜTTIKOFER
The idea of having a Zoological Garden in Rotterdam owes its origin to three amateur zoologists. One of these enthusiasts, a station-master on the Holland Railway, took a small plot of land on lease, and started a collection of animals and birds. Some years after a number of wealthy citizens subscribed 300,000 guilders, with which they bought thirty-four acres of land, half of which they laid out as a garden, where they built several houses for animals and birds. May 1, 1857, is to be considered the date of the foundation of these Gardens.
In 1863 the remaining ground was laid out and added to the Gardens. The director, Mr. P. H. Martin, originally a renowned lion-tamer, who had been in office since the foundation of the Gardens, resigned, and Mr. A. A. van Bemmelen succeeded him.
At frequent intervals additions were made to the number of buildings, including a large plant house 170 feet long, costing 45,000 guilders.
In 1874 a 5 per cent. loan of 500,000 guilders was contracted, and about twenty-five acres of land bought at a cost of 230,000 guilders. A splendid casino was built on the newly acquired land, containing a restaurant, reading-rooms and a museum, at a cost of 325,000 guilders. In 1878 an officials’ dwelling-house and a house for succulent plants were erected.
In 1882 the loan alluded to above was converted into a 4 per cent. one of 600,000 guilders. Large aviaries were erected in 1883 and 1885, and the ‘Victoria’ house for stove-plants in 1886. Other houses followed in 1889 and 1891. The year 1893 brought the conversion of the former loan into a 3½ per cent. mortgage loan of 1,000,000 guilders, the issue of new shares to the amount of 700,000 guilders, and the paying-off of the old shares.
In 1895 a handsome new house for the carnivores was completed at a cost of 82,000 guilders. This house measures about 200 feet in length. In January, 1897, Mr. van Bemmelen died suddenly, after having been in office thirty-four years; and in May of the same year Dr. J. Büttikofer was appointed his successor. The fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Gardens was celebrated by a grand fête.
During the following years many more new buildings were erected, and the borders of some of the ponds were lined with an edging of concrete reaching for some feet down into the water, which proved successful in putting a stop to the devastations by rats.